Filene Exclusive: 2014 NII Must Focus on Member Value

As income from net interest margin has dried up, Ben Rogers, research director at the Filene Research Institute, said more and more has had to come from noninterest income.

“But rather than waiting on the clouds, many credit unions have been building enough NII to guarantee that the river of net income doesn’t run dry,” Rogers said. “As they look for additional sources, they need to be sure they’re giving members value, not just extracting it.”

Filene recently conducted research seeking to balance two important credit union imperatives: the need for NII that supports the operating costs of the credit union, and the imperative that credit union leaders feel to charge fees that are fair and that support services that add value to members, Rogers said.

Click on the graphs at left to expand.

“The tension is real. Too many or ill-advised fees and credit unions run the risk of alienating members and losing their cooperative difference,” he warned.